Review: Nutrition and Health Live 2014, a great place to update and network.

Last week I bravely ventured to the Annual Nutrition and Health Live Conference. I say bravely as I went with my 7 week old baby. Madness some may say but apart from train delays giving us a very long journey home the day went very smoothly. Having a baby often means that getting to study days and conferences is hard, so I was very pleased when I was told it would be fine to take baby with me.

Nutrition & Health Live is the longest running and most comprehensive conference and exhibition focused on public health nutrition, open to all UK nutrition and health professionals. The event takes place each November, at London Olympia. The venue itself is good and very easy to get to by train. The event had a good layout with several sessions happening at once. It was evident how popular it was as several session were jam packed and standing room only.

I really appreciated the range of topics being discussed over the weekend. From obesity to food intolerance to social media and commissioning, I’m pretty sure there must have been something for every nutrition professional there. Although it is a large event it somehow still feels intimate, open and friendly. I had lots of people chatting to me as I walked around and sat in sessions.

What stood out for me was the chance to meet other dietitians and network. Several people came up to me and introduced themselves as they recognised me from twitter. Likewise I tweeted several people I had chatted to but never met and really enjoyed meeting them. In fact as a result of this some of us are looking at organising a dietitian’s social meet up next year, get in touch if you want to come along.

I also particularly got a lot out of the food intolerance talks, one on wheat intolerance and fodmaps which I will be blogging my take home points on.

All in all I would highly recommend this event as one to put on the list of things to plan into the diary and the bank balance for next year, I will certainly be going so please do come and say hello!